Submachine gun
A submachine gun (SMG) is a
The submachine gun was developed during
In the United States, submachine guns have long stereotypical association with organized crime, criminal gangs, and violence. The use of submachine guns by the Chicago Outfit, as well as numerous cases of gun violence (including school shooting), has contributed the rise of the stereotype.
Name
There are some inconsistencies in the classification of submachine guns.
History
In 1895,
In April 1914, Abiel Bethel Revelli, an Italian military officer patented a twin-barreled, magazine-fed automatic gun in a pistol caliber, lighter than a machine gun and shorter than a rifle. A common myth is that this weapon was originally designed as an aircraft gun. In reality ground use was taken into consideration from the very beginning, particularly for the Bersaglieri's cyclist battalions.[11]
World War I
Stocked pistols were common at the beginning of the 20th century, the Germans initially used heavier versions of the P08 pistol equipped with a detachable stock, larger-capacity snail-drum magazine and a longer barrel.
In 1915, the
In late 1915, the first submachinegun with a buttstock was built: the Austro-Hungarian Standschütze Hellriegel M1915
In February 1916, the Austro-Hungarian first fielded the M.12/P16 machine-pistol. This was the first machine pistol to be adopted by any military, being issued to Tyrolean units fighting in the alps[12]
In 1916, Heinrich Senn of Bern designed a modification of the Swiss Luger pistol to fire in single shots or in full-automatic. Around the same time Georg Luger demonstrated a similar Luger machine-pistol which inspired the German Army to develop submachine guns.[13]
Colonel Bethel-Abiel Revelli had already conceived the principles of the submachine gun in September 1915, when he wrote that his gun could be converted to a single-barreled version that "may be mounted in the manner of a rifle so that it may be fired from the shoulder". The
By 1918, Bergmann Waffenfabrik had developed the
The .45 ACP Thompson submachine gun had been in development at approximately the same time as the Bergmann and the Beretta. However, the war ended before prototypes could be shipped to Europe.[16] Although it had missed its chance to be the first purpose-designed submachine gun to enter service, it became the basis for later weapons, and was much more successful than the submachine guns produced during World War I.
Interwar Period
The Thompson entered production as the M1921. It was available to civilians, but, because of the weapon's high price, initially saw poor sales. The Thompson (with one Type XX 20 round "stick" magazine) had been priced at $200 in 1921 (roughly equivalent to $3,416 in 2023). The Thompson was used in combat that same year:
West Virginia state police bought 37 guns and used them during the Battle of Blair Mountain.[17] Some of the first batches of Thompsons were bought by agents of the Irish Republican Army. They purchased a total of 653 units, though US customs authorities in New York seized 495 of the units in June 1921.[18][19]
The Thompson, nicknamed "Tommy Gun" or "Chicago Typewriter" became notorious in the U.S. due to its employment by the Mafia: the image of pinstripe-suited James Cagney types wielding drum-magazine Thompsons caused some military planners to shun the weapon. However, the FBI and other U.S. police forces themselves showed no reluctance to use and prominently display these weapons. Eventually, the submachine gun was gradually accepted by many military organizations, especially as World War II loomed, with many countries developing their own designs. The United States Marine Corps adopted the Thompson during this period, they used them during the Banana Wars in Central America and it was also used by the China Marines.
During the
Germany transferred its MP 18s to the German police forces after World War I. They also saw use in the hands of various
World War II
Changes in design accelerated during the war, with one major trend being the abandonment of complex and finely made pre-war designs like the
While the Italians were among the first to develop submachine guns during World War I, they were slow to produce them under
In 1939, the Germans introduced the 9 mm Parabellum
During the
In 1940, the Soviets introduced the 7.62×25mm PPD-40 and later the more easily manufactured PPSh-41 in response to their experience during the Winter War against Finland. The PPSh's 71-round drum magazine is a copy of the Suomi's. Later in the war they developed the even more readily mass-produced PPS submachine gun - all firing the same small-caliber but high-powered Tokarev cartridges. The USSR went on to make over 6 million PPSh-41s and 2 million PPS-43s by the end of World War II. Thus, the Soviet Union could field huge numbers of submachine guns against the Wehrmacht, with whole infantry battalions being armed with little else.[23] Even in the hands of conscripts with minimal training, the volume of fire produced by massed submachine guns could be overwhelming.
Britain entered the war with no domestic submachine gun design but instead imported the expensive US M1928 Thompson. After evaluating their battlefield experience in the Battle of France and losing many weapons in the Dunkirk evacuation, the Royal Navy adopted the 9 mm Parabellum Lanchester submachine gun. With no time for the usual research and development for a new weapon, it was decided to make a direct copy of the German MP 28. Like other early submachine guns it was difficult and expensive to manufacture. Shortly thereafter, the simpler Sten submachine gun was developed for general use by the British armed forces, it was much cheaper and faster to make. Over 4 million Sten guns were made during World War II. The Sten was so cheap and easy to produce that towards the end of the war as their economic base approached crisis, Germany started manufacturing their own copy, the MP 3008. After the war, the British replaced the Sten with the Sterling submachine gun.
The United States and its allies used the Thompson submachine gun, especially the simplified
France produced only about 2,000 of the
The
While most other countries during World War II developed submachine guns, the Empire of Japan had only produced one, the Type 100 submachine gun, based heavily on the German MP28. Like most other small arms created in Imperial Japan, the Type 100 could be fitted with the Type 30 bayonet. It used the 8×22mm Nambu cartridge, which was about half as powerful as a standard Western 9 mm Parabellum round.[24] Production of the gun was even more inadequate: by the war's end, Japan had only manufactured about 7,500 of the Type 100, whereas Germany, America, and other countries in the war had produced well over a million of their own SMG designs.[25]
The German military concluded that most firefights took place at ranges of no more than ~300 yd (270 m). They therefore sought to develop a new class of weapon that would combine the high volume of fire of the submachine gun with an
Post World War II
After World War II, "new submachine gun designs appeared almost every week to replace the admittedly rough and ready designs which had appeared during the war. Some (the better ones) survived, most rarely got past the glossy brochure stage."[27] Most of these survivors were cheaper, easier and faster to make than their predecessors. As such, they were widely distributed.
In 1945, Sweden introduced the 9 mm Parabellum
In 1946, Denmark introduced the Madsen M-46, and in 1950, an improved model the Madsen M-50. These 9 mm Parabellum stamped steel SMGs featured a unique clamshell type design, a side folding stock and a grip-safety on the magazine housing. The Madsen was widely exported and especially popular in Latin America, with variants made by several countries.
In 1948,
In 1949, France introduced the MAT-49 to replace the hodgepodge of French, American, British, German and Italian SMGs in French service after World War II. The 9 mm Parabellum MAT-49 is an inexpensive stamped steel SMG with a telescoping wire stock, a pronounced folding magazine housing and a grip safety. This "wildebeast like design" proved to be an extremely reliable and effective SMG, and was used by the French well into the 1980s. It was also widely exported to Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
1950s
In 1954, Israel introduced a 9 mm Parabellum open-bolt, blowback-operated submachine gun called the Uzi (after its designer Uziel Gal). The Uzi was one of the first weapons to use a telescoping bolt design with the magazine housed in the pistol grip for a shorter weapon. The Uzi has become the most popular submachine gun in the world, with over 10 million units sold,[30] more than any other submachine gun.[31]
In 1959, Beretta introduced the Model 12. This 9 mm Parabellum submachine gun was a complete break with previous Beretta designs.[32] It is a small, compact, very well made SMG and among the first to use a telescoping bolt design.[32] The M12 was designed for mass production and was made largely of stamped steel and welded together.[32] It is identified by its tubular shape receiver, double pistol grips, a side folding stock and the magazine housed in front of the trigger guard. The M12 uses the same magazines as the Model 38 series.
Submachine guns in the Korean War
Submachine guns proved to be an important weapon system once again in the
Other older designs also saw use in the Korean war. The Thompson had seen much use by the U.S. and South Korean military, even though the Thompson had been replaced as standard-issue by the M3/M3A1. With huge numbers of guns available in army ordnance arsenals, the Thompson remained classed as Limited Standard or Substitute Standard long after the standardization of the M3/M3A1. Many Thompsons were distributed to the US-backed Nationalist Chinese armed forces as military aid before the fall of Chiang Kai-shek's government to Mao Zedong's communist forces at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 (Thompsons had already been widely used throughout China since the 1920s, at a time when several Chinese warlords and their military factions running various parts of the fragmented country made purchases of the weapon and then subsequently produced many local copies). US troops were surprised to encounter communist Chinese troops armed with Thompsons (amongst other captured US-made Nationalist Chinese and American firearms), especially during unexpected night-time assaults which became a prominent Chinese combat tactic in the conflict. The gun's ability to deliver large quantities of short-range automatic assault fire proved very useful in both defense and assault during the early part of the war when it was constantly mobile and shifting back and forth. Many Chinese Thompsons were captured and placed into service with American soldiers and marines for the remaining period of the war.
1960s
In the 1960s,
In 1969,
1970s
In the 1970s, extremely compact submachine guns, such as the
1980s
By the 1980s, the demand for new submachine guns was very low and could be easily met by existing makers with existing designs.[2] However, following H&K's lead, other manufacturers began designing submachine guns based on their existing assault rifle patterns. These new SMGs offered a high degree of parts commonality with parent weapons, thereby easing logistical concerns.
In 1982,
1990s
In 1999, H&K introduced the last widely distributed SMG, the
2000s
In 2004,
In 2009, KRISS USA introduced the
2010s
By the early 2010s,
Land defence pistol
During the Apartheid era of South Africa and the Rhodesian Bush War/South African Border War, a semi-automatic only pistol calibre carbine based on submachine guns existed for civillian personal protection as Land Defence Pistols (LDP).[51] Known examples were the Bell & White 84,[52] BHS Rhogun, Cobra Mk1,[53] GM-16, Kommando LDP,[54] Northwood R-76,[55] Paramax, Sanna 77 and TS III.
Personal defense weapons
First developed during the 1980s, the
Introduced in 1991, the
See also
References
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- ^ a b c d e Military Small Arms Of The 20th Century. Ian Hogg & John Weeks. Krause Publications. 2000. p93
- ^ a b "Submachine Guns (SMG's): Outpaced by Today's Modern Short-Barreled Rifles (SBR's)/Sub-Carbines, or Still a Viable Tool for Close Quarters Battle/Close Quarters Combat (CQB/CQC)?". DefenseReview.com. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
- ^ a b c Military Small Arms of the 20th Century. 7th Edition. by Ian V. Hogg & John S. Weeks. Krause Publications. 2000. pages 93–94.
- ^ Sten Machine Carbine, by Peter Laidler & R Blake Stevens, Collector Grade Publications, Canada; 1ST edition (December 2000)
- ^ Military Small Arms of the 20th Century. 7th Edition. by Ian V. Hogg & John S. Weeks. Krause Publications. 2000. pages 93–94 & 116–125.
- ^ James Smyth Wallace. Chemical Analysis of Firearms, Ammunition, and Gunshot Residue. CRC Press. 2008. p. xxiii
- ^ Military Small Arms of the 20th Century. 7th Edition. by Ian V. Hogg & John S. Weeks. Krause Publications. 2000. pages 125 & 166–167.
- ^ "Hiram's Extra Light Maxim Gun". 7 August 2019.
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- ^ "Maschinenpistole Senn (Luger conversion)". firearms.96.lt. Retrieved 2023-06-18.
- ^ Military Small Arms of the 20th Century. 7th Edition. by Ian V. Hogg & John S. Weeks. Krause Publications. 2000. pages 116
- ^ McNab, Chris (2015). The World's Greatest Small Arms: An Illustrated History. p. 61.
- ^ Frank Iannamico, American Thunder: The Military Thompson Submachine Gun 1928, 1928A1, M1, M1A1, Moose Lake Publishing, 2000.
- ^ Association, National Rifle. "An Official Journal Of The NRA | Guns of the Battle of Blair Mountain". An Official Journal Of The NRA. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
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- ^ "Отчет стрелкового полигона: пистолет-пулемет Томпсона". kalashnikov.media (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-11-24.
- ^ Dunlap, Roy F., Ordnance Went Up Front, Samworth Press, (1948), p. 58
- ^ a b Military Small Arms of the 20th Century. 7th Edition. by Ian V. Hogg & John S. Weeks. Krause Publications. 2000. pages 118–120
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- ^ Military Small Arms Of The 20th Century. Ian Hogg & John Weeks. Krause Publications. 2000. p167
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{{cite book}}
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- ^ "New guns for Russia's cops – so what? - In Moscow's Shadows". In Moscow's Shadows. 23 October 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
- ^ "Исторические сведения ПП-19-01 "Витязь"/"Витязь-СН" - пистолет-пулемёт". Archived from the original on 2015-01-21. Retrieved 2015-07-31.
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